52 Nut Mercenary Part 1 (2/2)

”Karen Prefecture is too far. With only a commission of five hundred gold coins, not many mercenaries will accept it, am I right?” Flamenco was a little unhappy. The road to Karen Prefecture was long, and even with horses, it would take them three months to get there. That amounted to around a hundred plus gold coins per month. They might as well fight some magic beasts in the Chaotic Swamp and sell their magic nuclei.

Moreover, failing a five-star mission came with a hefty punishment, and Flamenco would still need to pay a large deposit. If they had been low-grade mercenaries, a five hundred gold coin mission would have caused a stir, but the Nut Mercenary did not care about this meager money.

”I’ll give you another piece of phlogopite once we reach Karen Prefecture,” Aini said confidently.

Flamenco was enticed and asked cautiously, ”How big is it?’

Phlogopite had little meaning to a mage, but for a swordsman, it was a fantastic material for creating weapons. This item by itself was rare, and if it landed in the hands of a mage, there was a high chance that it would be casually used up. It was rare for a swordsman to possess it.

”This big.” Aini gestured with his hands and said, ”It can add an entire magic pattern onto a heavy sword.”

Flamenco thought for a while. Llooking at his teammates, he asked cautiously, ”Could I have two? I don’t want the five hundred gold coins anymore, and I can still give you another five hundred gold coins for it.”

Aini took a glance at Saleen who nodded his head. The phlogopite had been suggested by him. For this, mercenaries would put in their utmost effort and even if someone else offered a higher price, they would not betray their employer. However, Aini didn’t have any phlogopite on hand and needed to ask Saleen for his opinion.

”Alright. We will leave at the start of the month. I will take care of your expenses for the next two days.”

Flamenco laughed and said, ”That won’t be necessary. Have you all packed your luggage? Do you need our help?” Seeing his forthrightness, Aini laughed, ”We have prepared already. We have eight horses too. All of them are Hetao short horses.”

Saleen kept quiet throughout their discussion, his eyes on a person from the Nut Mercenary. He was dressed in a white robe and was the mage that he had crossed paths with before coming to the inn.

There was nothing unusual about a mage in a Grade 5 mercenary regiment. What was unusual was that the mage was only Grade 2. Saleen thought that this was too much of a coincidence…

The mage was watching Saleen as well. He found it strange that when Flamenco had asked about the phlogopite, Aini had needed to consider Saleen’s opinion. Could this Grade 1 mage be the person that they would actually be protecting?

After looking at each other for too long, the atmosphere had taken an awkward turn. Luckily, the mage didn’t have an eccentric temper and took the initiative to talk to Saleen. ”We meet again. Hello, I’m Walnut.”

”Saleen,” Saleen replied. He had a general judgement already. This was a commoner who had come from a poor background. Since mages did not have nicknames, Walnut was his real name. This mage might even not have had a surname. From such a poor background, he had managed to rise to a Grade 2 mage. He must have been a genius.

Flamenco said, ”Let’s introduce one another when the team sets off. Mr. Aini, could we leave for a day? We need to make a trip to the forest.”

Aini nodded in agreement. ”Sure. Let’s meet at the start of the month.”

Saleen kept his paranoia to himself. That mage could not have been here for him. Since they had escaped from the Chaotic Swamp, no one here could have known of him beforehand. Also, what had happened within the Chaotic Swamp could not have leaked out. He was worrying too much. If Aini had wanted to find someone else to scheme against him, he wouldn’t have found someone that Saleen had already seen.

Beside the inn was a restaurant, and the two establishments were joined together. The day before they set off, everyone gathered for a meal to get to know each other.

Getting a private room, the twelve of them sat around a large table. This arrangement was only possible in a restaurant meant for mercenaries.

However, the mercenaries in the Qin Empire seemed much quieter than the ones in Sikeqinya. Even though the people of the Nut Mercenary were still wearing their soft armor and held their weapons in hand, ready to fight, they weren’t as rowdy and everyone spoke in hushed tones.

Saleen happened to be sitting beside that mage, and the two made eye contact and laughed. Saleen now realized that he was being oversensitive. There were many mages in the Qin Empire, and meeting a few was nothing out of the ordinary.

”I’m Saleen.”

”I remember. You’re from the Qin Empire?”

”Nope, I’m from Sikeqinya.”

”Ha, you have a pretty pure accent.” Walnut laughed and Saleen followed suit. The past few days, he had been correcting his accent with the help of Aini. For a mage, learning a language was a very important skill. If a mantra’s pronunciation was wrong, it would be twice as hard to learn new magic.